How money in domestic politics affects U.S. diplomacy

On this week’s episode of “Conversations with Nicholas Kralev,” Harvard professor Joseph Nye, who coined the term “soft power,” talks about presidential leadership in the conduct of diplomacy, and how the United States can maintain its primacy in world affairs.

Commenting on political appointments to diplomatic positions regardless of appointees’ lack of qualifications, Nye says that “it has become worse with the pressure of money in modern politics.”

Nye, a former dean of the John F. Kennedy School of Government, joined the Harvard faculty in 1964 and has been named repeatedly among the most influential scholars of international relations. He has also served at the Pentagon, the State Department and the White House.